Street-sweeper.



N M. MILLER & R. EVANS.

STREET SWEEPBR.

APPLICATION-FILED JUNE 19, 1912.

Patented Apr. 21, 1914.

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N. M. MILLER & G. R. EVANS.

STREET SWEEPER.

APPLICATION FILED mm: 19, 1912.

1,094,235. Patented Apr. 21

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3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

N. M. MILLER & G. R. EVANS.

STREET SWEEPER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1'9, 1912.

Patented Apr. 21,1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

N. M Mille 1 col-Hum PLANOGRAP UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE.

NELLIE M. MILLER AND GEORGE E. EVANS, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OFCOLUMBIA.

STREET-SWEEPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 21, 1914.

Application filed June 19, 1912. Serial No. 704,622.

To all QUh-OHt it may concern:

Be 1t known that we, NELLIE M. MILLER and GEORGE E. EvANs, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Vvashington, in the District of Columbia,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Street-Sweepers;and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to .make and use the same.

to sweep the dust or dirt into a wagon body whereby the same may betransported to any desired place and later dumped.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide a street sweeper in whichthe sweeping means is yieldably supported from a wagon;

body whereby all shocks and jars incident to the travel of the sweeperover rough streets will be eliminated.

A further object of the invention is to provide a street sweeper of thecharacter described in which means are provided for readily raising thesweeping means above the ground when it is desired to transport thesweeper from place to place.

ith these and other objects, the invention consists in the constructionand novel combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustratedin the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims heretoappended; it being understood that various changes in the form,proportion, size and minor details of construction within the scope ofthe claims may be resorted to without departing from the spirit orsacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a top plan view of a street sweeperconstructed in accordance with our invention, Fig. 2 is a side elevationof the left hand side of the machine, Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial sideelevation of the right hand side of the machine, Fig. 41 is alongitudinal sectional view through the machine, Fig. 5 is a transversesectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig.

1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows, and Fig. 6 is atransverse sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2, lookmg n thedirection indicated by the arrows.

Like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in all the figuresof the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, the invention comprises broadly a dumpingwagon which is indicated as a whole by the reference letter A, and asweeping means which is indicated as a whole by the reference letter B.

The dumping wagonA includes a body which consists of side-boards 55, afront end board 6 which depends below the side boards 5 and a rear endportion 7, the latter consisting of an upper poard 7 and a lower board 7said lower board being disposed in advance of the upper board. The rearends of the side-boards 5, and the boards 7 and 7 of the rear portion 7are connected by a transverse bridge 8. A rear axle 9 is mounted insuitable bearings 10 which depend from the bridge 8, said axle carryingthe ground wheels l111. A bottom 12 made up of downwardly and outwardlyoppositely inclined sections is connected to the lower edge of the frontend wall 6 and the lower edge of the lower board 7 of the rear portion 7It will thus be observed that by means of this construction, spaces areformed between the side edges of the bottom 12 and the lower edges ofside-boards 5, and that dirt or other material within the body isdirected outwardly through said openings through the medium of the substantially V-sha'ped construction of said bottom. In order to close theopenings, there are provided doors 1318 which are hingedly connected, asat ll, to the side board 5 of the body, the lower edges of the doorsabutting the side edges of the bottom when said doors are in theirclosed positions. A longitudinally disposed shaft 15 is centrallydisposed within the wagon body above and in spaced relation to the apex12 of the bottom. The front end of the shaft is journaled in a bearing16 which is supported centrally upon the bridge 8, and the rear end ofsaid shaft is journaled in a bearing 17 which is centrally carried bythe front end board f the body. The front end of the shaft furthermoreprojects through an opening in said front board 6 sition yieldably.

ratchet 18 of suitable construction together with an actuating lever 19by means of which the shaft may be rotated and locked at any desiredpoint of rotation. Centrally secured to each door 13 and adjacent thelower edge thereof is an eye 20, and to each eye is connected one end ofa chain 21, the other end of said chains being fixedly connccted to theshaft 15 so that upon rotation of said shaft in one direction the chainswill be wound therearound and consequently will hold the doors 13against outward swinging movement.

The sweeping means B includes a pair of spaced arms 2222 which extendrearwardly from the wagon A and have their forward ends suitablyjournaled upon the axle 9. Journaled in the rear ends of the arms 22 isa transversely disposed shaft 23, and upon this shaft 'is fixedlyconnected a rotary brush 24 of any suitable construction. Thesweepinganeans furthermore includes an inclined casing which isdesignated as a whole by the reference numeral 25 and consists of abottom 26 and spaced side walls 2727, said casing extending forwardlyand upwardly through a vertical slot which is centrally formed in theupper section 7 of the rear end board 7. The upper or forward end of thecasing is supported for pivotal movements upon a transversely disposeddrive shaft 28 which is supported in suitable bearings 2929 carried bythe sideboards 5 of the body, said shaft extending through the sidewalls 27-27 of the casing. Supported by the side walls 27 of the casingintermediate the shafts 23 and 28 is a counter-shaft 30. A conveyerapron 31 of any suitable construction is operatively connected to theshafts 28 and 30. The bottom 26 of the casing below the counter-shaft 30is curved upwardly, as at 32, and thence extends rearwardly anddownwardly to form an apron 33 which is disposed in front of the brush24. The side walls 27 above the shaft 30 project upwardly and support atransversely disposed spring actuated shutter 34. The spring for thisshutter is indicated as a spring hinge 35 it being understood that theshowing is merely typical of any suitable form of spring hinge or springadapted to properly hold the shutter in po- A hood 35 is disposed aroundthe brush 24 and terminates in an upwardly extending portion 36, saidportion extending to the shutter 34 and cooperating therewith and withthe apron 33 to form a passage for guiding the dust or dirt from thebrush 24 to the conveyer apron 31.

In order to drive the shaft 28 from the ground wheels 11, one'of saidwheels carries a drive gear 37 which meshes with a pinion 38 which issplined and slidably mounted upon said shaft 28. This pinion is formedwith a toothed hub 39 which is adapted to be clutched with a toothed hub40 of a sprocket wheel 41 which is loose on said shaft 28. The sprocketwheel 41 is connected by means of a chain 43 to a sprocket wheel 42which is fixed on the brush shaft 23. It will thus be observed that bythe means above described, the conveyer apron 31 and the brush 24 aredriven from the drive gear 37, and that the conveyer apron 31 is alwaysin action when the wagon is in motion, while the brush 24 is onlyactuated upon the hub 40 being engaged by the hub 39.

In order to shift the hub 39, and consequently actuate the brush 24, apair of upper and lower brackets 44 and 45 respectively are carried bythe adjacent side-board 5 of the wagon body, and supported in saidbrackets in a vertical rock-shaft 46. A shipper lever 47 is fixedlyconnected at one end to the upper end of this shaft, and this lever hasits other end engaged in the usual manner with the hub 39 of the pinion38. Secured to the lower end of the shaft 46 is a rocker-arm 48. andthis arm is connected to one end of a forwardly extending rod 49. Theforward end of the rod 49 is pivotally connected, as at 50, centrally ofa hand-lever 51 which is fulcrumed, as at 52, upon the side-board 5 ofthe body. A rack 53 is associated with the lever 51, and this leverineludes the usual pawl which is designated as a whole by the referencenumeral 54, and which is adapted for engagement with said rack to holdthe hub 39 into or out of engagement with the hub 40.

In order to yieldably support the brush 24 upon the ground, or toelevate said brush above the ground, a bell-crank lever 55 is fulcrumedat its angle, as at 56, to the rear end of one side-board 5 of the body.A pin 57 is pivotally connected at one end, as at 58, to the rearwardlyextending horizontal arm 55 of said lever. This pin extends downwardlythrough a vertical slot formed in a cross bar which connects the arms22, and is provided on its lower end with a nut 59 and adjacent itsupper end with a nut 60, both of said nuts being disposed in spacedrelation to the arm 22. Upper and lower coil springs 61 and 62 arerespectively disposed around the pin above and below the arm 22 andbetween the nuts 59 and 60. A hand-lever 63 is fulcrumed upon theforward end of the adjacent side-board 5 of the body, and this lever isconnected to the vertical arm 55 of said bell-crank lever by means of arod 64. A rack 65 is associated with the lever 63, and carried by saidlever and engageable with the rack is a pawl which is indicated as awhole by the reference numeral 66.

In operation, as the machine is drawn along over a street, the lever 63is released so as to position the brush 24 upon the ground. Thehand-lever 51 is shifted forwardly so as to engage the hub 40 by the hub39, and thereby operatively connect said brush 24 with the gear wheel 37as above described. The dirt will be thrown upwardly into the casing 25by the brush 24, said dirt first passing onto the apron 33 and thenceinto the curved portion 32 of the bottom 26 of said casing. The strips31 of the conveyer apron 31 will then carry the dirt upwardly along thebottom 26 of the casing to the upper end thereof, at which point thedirt will be discharged into the wagon body A through the medium of achute 67 which is formed from a continuation of the bottom 26 of saidcasing. This chute has its sides 67*67 bent downwardly so as to directthe dirt on opposite sides of the bottom 12 of said body, and carried bythe forward end of the chute 67 is a bearing plate 68 which rests uponthe shaft 15 and thereby supports the lower edge of the chute. WVhen itis desired to dump the dirt from the body, the hand-lever 19 is actuatedto release the chains 21. The dirt within the body being directedoutwardly due to the inclined bottom 12 will exert a sufficient pressureagainst the doors 13 to swing the same open, thereby permitting the dirtto be readily discharged. While the machine is being transported thehand-lever 63 is moved forwardly, and as a result, the arms 22 andconsequently the brush 24 will be elevated above the ground. It is to benoted that when the brush 24 is working upon the ground, said brush isyieldably held into engagement therewith by means of the coil springs 61and 62, and that whenever the brush 24 strikes a stone or otherobstruction, the springs will yield tosuch an extent as to permit of thebrush passing thereover in such a manner as to eliminate the possibilityof shocks and jars to the mechanism.

In order to permit of the wagon backing or turning without reversing theconveyor apron and brush, the wheels 11 are each connected to the axle 9by means of a pawl and ratchet mechanism, one of said mechanisms onlybeing shown and designated as a whole by the reference numeral 69.

What is claimed is:

1. In a street sweeper, a vehicle, asweeping brush supported from saidvehicle for rotation, a hood covering said brush, an open toppedinclined casing extending upward from the lower rear end portion of thehood, a conveyer provided with flights arranged to force material upsaid casing, and means to close the upper rear portion of the hood, saidmeans being yieldable to permit passage of the conveyer flights.

2. In a street sweeper, a vehicle, asweeping brush supported from saidvehicle for rotation, a hood covering said brush, an open toppedinclined casing extending upward from the lower rear end portion of thehood, a conveyer provided with flights arranged to force material upsaid casing, and means to close the upper rear portion of the hood, saidmeans being yieldable to permit passage of the conveyor flights, andcomprising a shutter hinged to the upper rear edge of the hood andprovided with a spring normally holding the shutter closed.

In testimony whereof, we affix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

NELLIE M. MILLER. GEORGE E. EVANS.

\Vitnesses GEO. I-I. CHANDLEE, M. L. SULLIVAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

